I plan to brew a Barleywine next weekend and was wanting to add some sugar to reduce the amount of grain in my mash tun. I have raw cane sugar, brown sugar, and confectioners sugar on hand. What affect would each have to the finished product?
I was leaning toward adding both brown and the powered sugar because my wife has some extra that’s been lying around for a bit.
Is it better to add sugars latter in the boil or does it really matter? I was leaning toward 15 minutes from end of boil.
Of the three you list I’d go with the cane sugar, I used brown sugar in the first B W that I brewed and found out I don’t care for brown sugar in beer.
Brown sugar is just regular sugar basically with molasses added. I personally think there is a flavor difference but if you want something special use Jaggery or other exotic palm sugar.
Turbinado and demerara are also fine raw sugar choices found pretty easily. But out of your choices, I would also say use straight cane sugar. And yes, you are perfectly fine adding it with 15 min left in the boil.
Meaning that if you add the sugar at 15 minutes left in the boil, then you have less overall sugars in the boil for the entire (or mostly) boil since you held back that last addition towards the end. Your hops will then be boiled in a lower gravity wort as compared to a higher gravity wort that your brewing software may have accounted for. When I have done this, I have found the numbers to be pretty negligible and not too big of a deal in the final product. YMMV.
I am. Why waste the money on honey when you won’t get anything from it but the sugar content, particularly if added to the boil? DME and LME add more than just fermentable sugar. Not a problem if that’s what you want, but it doesn’t sound like he does.
+2; Sugar is great for BW. Many are waaaay too think/heavy. I think plain jane table sugar is best (and I ask wife for the old stuff) but if you want flavor check out making carmelized or “candy” syrups with yeast nutrient.
I prefer the flavor and complexity of LME, DME and honey added after 2/3 of the fermentation is completed. I’ve used sugar in the past and gotten cidery flavors that I don’t care for. Just my opinion.
If sugar works for you, that’s great. He’s trying to free up room in his mash tun and I was suggesting other options if they’re available. Both LME and DME will add to the complexity as well as the alcohol level and honey added toward the end of fermentation will add alcohol and contribute flavor.
That’s a fair point. I have no argument against using DME/LME to boost a beer that’s too big for the mash tun. You do have to be careful though, especially with a big beer, that it doesn’t end up with too many unfermentables. I would still recommend using sugar for a portion of the addition, but it doesn’t need to be all of it.
As far as LME/DME, my recommendation would be to add Breiss Pils DME. It’s the lightest and most fermentable extract I have come across. I haven’t used LME in ages.
For me, I would add a pound of sugar to aid dryness and avoid a sweet or overly malty beer. If I needed to makeup a large amount of gravity points, I’d use DME and sugar in a 2:3 ratio. Too much extract will leave way too many unfermentables.